Reports / Documents
- A Note On Implementation Of Environmentally Sound Technologies For Re-Refining / Recycling of Used Oil/Waste Oil

MAHARASHTRA
POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD A NOTE ON IMPLEMENTATION OF ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND TECHNOLOGIES FOR RE-REFINING/RECYCLING OF USED OIL/WASTE OIL

1

Background

The
Hazardous Wastes (Management & Handling) Rules, as amended
on May 20, 2003, have come into force from the date of their
publication in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II
(3) (ii) No. 471 dated May 23, 2003. As per Rule 21 of HW
Rules, it is mandatory that re-refining/recycling of the used
oil/waste oil is done only through application of environmentally
sound technologies (EST’s). Existing industries are
required to switch over within six months from the date of
commencement of the HW Rules to other EST’s mentioned
in the HW Rules.

As per Rule 4, it shall
be the responsibility of the occupier and the operator of
a facility, to take all steps to ensure that the wastes listed
in schedules-1, 2 and 3 of the HW Rules, are properly handled
and disposed of without any adverse effects to the environment.
He will also take adequate steps while handling the hazardous
wastes to -

(i)

Contain contaminants and prevent
accidents and limit their consequences on human and the
environment; and

(ii)

provide persons working on the site with
information, training and equipment necessary to ensure
their safety.

2

Environmentally
Sound Technologies (EST’s)

Rule 21 provides for the technology
and standards for re-refining/recycling of used oil/waste oil
in an environmentally sound manner. EST’s stipulated in
the HW Rules are as under:

(i)

Vacuum distillation with clay
treatment

(ii)

Thin-film evaporation process

(iii)

Vacuum distillation hydrotreating

(iv)

Any technology approved by the MoEF.

The approved technologies and standards have distinctive
advantages such as :

(a)

The re-refining/recycling
is done without adding any chemicals or other substances,
which can increase the quantity or toxicity of waste generated
in the whole process.

(b)

The quality of products are
of accepted standards for the purposes for which they
are intended.

Process flow diagrams for the above ESTs are placed
at Annex I to Annex III. Comparison of ESTs (i & ii as above)
in terms of yield, energy consumption, waste streams etc. is
presented below:

Factors for Evaluation

Vacuum
distillation with clay treatment

Thin-film
evaporation process

Lube Yield

Fairly High

Fairly High

Utilities consumption

Low

Low

Energy consumption

Low

Low

Process

Continuous

Continuous

Hazardous chemicals

None

None

WASTE STREAMS

Acid sludge

None

None

Spent coagulant clay

None

None

Spent alumina clay

3%

3%

Process water

Low

Low

3

Important
DefinitionsIn the Rules, unless the context
otherwise requires -

(i)

“environmentally
sound management of hazardous wastes” means taking
all steps required to ensure that the hazardous wastes
are managed in a manner which will protect health and
the environment against the adverse effects which may
result from such wastes;

(ii)

"recycling
of waste oil" means reclamation by way of treatment
to separate solids and water from waste oils using methods
such as heating, filtering, gravity settling, centrifuging,
dehydration, viscosity and specific gravity adjustment;

(iii)

"re-refining
of used oil" means applying a process to the material
composed of used oil so as to produce high quality base
stock for further manufacture of lubricants or for other
petroleum products by blending or any other process;

suitable for re-refining if
it meets the specifications laid down in Schedule 5 (Annex
IV), but does not include waste oil;

(v)

“waste oil”
means any oil -

(a)

which includes spills of crude
oil, emulsions, tank bottom sludge and slop oil generated
from petroleum refineries, installations or ships; and

(b)

is unsuitable for re-refining,
but can be used as fuel in furnaces if it meets the specifications
laid down in Schedule 6 (Annex V);

(vi)

“registered
re-refiner or recycler” means a re-refiner or recycler
registered for reprocessing wastes with the Ministry of
Environment and Forests or the Central Pollution Control
Board, as the case may be, for reprocessing wastes;

4

Responsibility
of the Waste Generator

Rule 20 of HW Rules, 2003, provides responsibilities
of the waste generator which inter-alia include stipulations
regarding permitted quantity for storage, time frame for disposal,
specifications of waste oil etc. Details are as under :

(i)

No owner or occupier
generating used oil or waste oil of ten tons or more per
annum shall sell or auction such used oil or waste oil
except to a registered re-refiner or recycler, who undertakes
to
re-refine or recycle the waste within the period of validity
of his certificate of registration.

(ii)

Any waste oil which does not
meet the specifications laid down in Schedule 6 shall
not be auctioned or sold but shall be disposed of in hazardous
wastes incinerator installed with air pollution control
devices and meeting emission standards.

(iii)

The persons generating waste
or auctioneers shall ensure that at the time of auction
or sale, the period of validity of the certificate of
registration of the registered re-refiner or recycler
is sufficient to reprocess the quantity of used oil/waste
oil being sold or auctioned to him.

(iv)

The waste generators and auctioneers
shall ensure that the wastes are not allowed to be stored
for more than ninety days and shall maintain a record
of auctions and sale of such wastes and make these records
available to the State Pollution Control Board or Committee
for inspections.

(v)

The waste generators and auctioneers
shall file annual returns of auction and sale in Form-13
latest by 31st day of January of every year to the respective
State Pollution Control Board or Committee.

5

Disposal of Wastes From Various
Processes of Re-Refinning Used Oil/ Waste Oil

(a) Used oil contains largely base oil, degraded additives, carbon, water and in some
cases metallic compounds in ppm. Used oil processing
in vacuum distillation process is done under varying
vacuum and temperature. The maximum temperature used
is 350 degree centigrade and vacuum of 2 Torr. Under
this condition, the water, base oil and some of the
bright stock is recovered and the residue will contain
the rest of the component of used oil. In this case
of used oil collected in the country, the quantity of
residue is 12 to 15 percent, whereas good quality used
oil may give less than 10% residue.

The typical analysis of residue indicate contents such
as:

Bright Stock Carbon
Metal Compounds

There is good market potential for using this residue as a masticating agent in rubber industries manufacturing mats, flaps, beadings etc. In Kerala & Tamilnadu alone the demand is to the tune of 5000 MT per year. These industries are using pine tar and other expensive substitutes, as they are unable to meet their demand.

(b) The application of the residue, commercially known as “Flap Oil”, is as under:

Rubber is mixed with Clay, Silicon, Carbon etc.,
and in order to aid this mixing, Flap Oil is added as a masticating
agent. The mixing takes place at 80 to 150 degree C depending
on the type of product. Since the Flap Oil is a produce distilled
at around 350 degree C at Torr, the mixing temperature of
150 degree will not affect the Flap Oil. The metallic compounds
in the Flap Oil is permanently impregnated to the rubber and
is rendered harmless.

The residue can also be used as asphalt extender.
In such application, the residue will get embedded in the
tarmac. The quantity of residue produced should be large enough
for contemplating such methods of disposal.

It is to be stressed that the
residue being produced in processes such as Vacuum Distillation
or Thin Film Evaporation are having commercial application
for disposal in a safe manner. Whereas, the hazardous wastes
generated in processes such as Acid/Clay or Coagulant/Clay
(Acid free) do not have commercial application due to harmful
contaminants present in the residue and therefore the disposal
is to be carried out by incineration.

(i)

Spent Clay

The base oil produced from
waste oil is subjected to Activated Alumina Clay treatment.
The purpose of this treatment is to improve the colour
of base oil. In the process, the clay absorbs traces
of aromatics and oxidized oil present in the base oil.
This alumina clay got good bonding properties and is
used in mixing with rubber in the manufacture of rubber
mats. This has also got application to mix the same
with the clay used for brick manufacture. In the case
of Vacuum Distillation Process and thin Film Evaporation
Process, the pH of the Spent Clay is 7.5 and therefore
this can be safely used in the above application. This
mode of disposal of residue and clay became possible
due to the fact that no acid is used in the waste oil
reprocessing and hence the base oil remain neutral.
Whereas in the case of Acid/Clay process, the base oil
is highly acidic and neutralization is done by excessive
use of clay and the pH for this clay is normally below
6. Hence the spent clay from Acid/Clay Process may not
be suitable for mixing with brick clay. This must be
incinerated @ 1200oC + 100oC with proper air pollution
control equipment.

6

Packaging, Labelling And Transport Of Hazardous Wastes.

(i)

The occupier or operator of
a facility shall ensure that the hazardous wastes are
packaged, based on the composition in a manner suitable
for handling, storage and transport and the labelling
and packaging shall be easily visible and be able to withstand
physical conditions and climatic factors.

(ii)

Packaging, labelling and transport
of hazardous wastes shall be in accordance with the provisions
of the rules made by the Central Government under the
Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and other guidelines issued from
time to time.

(iii)

All hazardous waste containers
shall be provided with a general label as given in Form
8 of HW Rules.

(iv)

The occupier shall
prepare six copies of the manifest in Form 9 of HW Rules
comprising of colour code indicated below (all six copies
to be signed by the transporter):

Copy
number with colour code

Purpose

Copy 1 (white)

to be forwarded by the occupier
to the State Pollution Control Board or Committee

Copy 2 (yellow)

to be retained by the occupier
after taking signature on it from the transporter and
rest of the four copies to be carried by the transporter

Copy 3 (pink)

to be retained by the operator
of the facility after signature

Copy 4 (orange)

to be returned to the transporter
by the operator of facility after accepting waste

Copy 5 (green)

to be returned by the operator
of the facility to State Pollution Control Board/Committee
after treatment and disposal of wastes

Copy 6 (blue)

to be returned by the operator
of the facility to the occupier after treatment and disposal
of wastes

(v)

The occupier shall
forward copy number 1 (white) to the State Pollution Control
Board or Committee and in case the hazardous waste is
likely to be transported through any transit State, the
occupier shall prepare an additional copy each for such
State and forward the same to the concerned State Pollution
Control Board or Committee before he hands over the hazardous
waste to the transporter. No transporter shall accept
hazardous wastes from an occupier for transport unless
it is accompanied by copy numbers 2 to 5 of the manifest.
The transporter shall return copy number 2 (yellow) of
the manifest signed with date to the occupier as token
of receipt of the other four copies of the manifest and
retain the remaining four copies to be carried and handed
over to respective agencies as specified in sub-rule (4).

(vi)

In case of transport of hazardous wastes to a facility for treatment, storage and disposal existing in a State other than the State where hazardous wastes are generated, the occupier shall obtain 'No Objection Certificate' from the State Pollution Control Board or Committee of the concerned State or Union territory Administration where the facility is existing.

(vii)

The occupier shall provide
the transporter with relevant information in Form 10 of
HW Rules, regarding the hazardous nature of the wastes
and measures to be taken in case of an emergency.